In recent years, the leading Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo has risen from
being largely unknown outside Japan to international fame. Ground-breaking service
innovations such as the world’s first wireless internet service, I-mode, the world’s
first third generation wireless service FOMA, as well as the company’s successful
proliferation of its W-CDMA 3G technologies as the UMTS standard in Europe have
generally impressed the troubled telecom industry on its brink to the new era wireless
data services. Conversely, much scientism has been aired whether the NTT DoCoMo
experience applies to European and US contexts due to differences in e.g.
demographics, Internet penetration, and wireless industry structures. To date, these
considerations have largely been based on anecdotal reports in trade magazines and an
increasing number of case studies focused primarily on the I-mode service (e.g.
Mulder and Simpson (2001); Harvard (2000)). Notable, exceptions are Ratliff (2001)
and Williamson and Meegan (2002) that however both point to the need for elevating
insights on NTT DoCoMo. This working paper sets out to contribute to a more
elaborate picture of NTT DoCoMo.
The working paper is outlined as follows. Departing from a sketch of DoCoMo’s
current challenges from the perspective of the CEO Keiji Tachikawa as the financial
year 2003 is coming to an end (March 31 2003), a brief introduction to DoCoMo’s
history and its innovative capabilities initiates the effort to present a more detailed
picture of the company. Then, the normal perception of NTT DoCoMo as a de facto
monopolist with all dominating market and bargaining power is challenged by means
of longitudinal study of the Japanese wireless market’s development from 1992 to
2003. During this period, DoCoMo’s leadership position as increasingly been
challenged by new competitors that emerged from an industry consolidation and
regulatory forces. It is found that the nature of competition has shifted from
DoCoMo’s undisputed dominance to a more dynamic environment signified by
intense service innovation based competition. Then, insights are provided as how the
NTT DoCoMo competes in its new environment. Three key strategic pillars are
analyzed, namely the company’s to approaches the (1) orchestrating of innovation
with the examples of I-mode, C-mode, and Telematics services, (2) relational
challenges with the examples of technology standardization alliances, interfirm
relationships with handset providers and internationalization partners, and lastly (3)
how new growth avenues are explored.

Filer i denne post: 1

Many companies in high technology fields engage with alliance partners to reduce risks, create synergies and learn. While the challenges of managing individual alliances are well documented, little is known on how to manage several R&D alliances simultaneously. Multiple alliance strategies can be observed in several companies engaged in the cross section of telecommunication and mobile technology where increased complexity magnifies managerial challenges. Drawing on modern portfolio theory, this paper offers a model for managing portfolios of R&D alliances. In particular, an analysis of a technology platform leader reveals how companies can reduce several types of risks associated with new technology and gain synergies by engaging in several alliances simultaneously.